Go back to homepage

Data and Policy Trainee

Location: Brussels, Belgium

Apply for this job

We are looking for a data and policy trainee with a technical background and strong data management skills. This is a new role at Milieu, at the intersection of policy research, data management and applied artificial intelligence. The trainee will support the policy team in building, maintaining and documenting the data infrastructure behind our studies. This includes a multi-year assignment for the European Commission on equality and non-discrimination across the EU Member States and enlargement countries, which relies on a structured evidence database, automated ingestion of official statistics, and indicator and data gap registers. The trainee will also help the team design and test AI-assisted workflows that make our research, data collection and analysis more efficient and robust. Candidates should be comfortable working with large and heterogeneous datasets and have at least a genuine interest in EU policy. This is a unique opportunity to join an outstanding and committed multi-disciplinary team of experts. The trainee contract is for a 6-month period and is a paid contract.

The work of a data and policy trainee will include:

  • Collecting, cleaning, harmonising and documenting quantitative data from official and administrative sources, including Eurostat, EU agencies, national statistical offices and international organisations
  • Supporting the maintenance and further development of project databases, including data ingestion routines (for example via the Eurostat SDMX API), import templates, quality checks, metadata and export routines
  • Designing, testing and documenting AI-assisted workflows for tasks such as desk research, document screening and coding, data extraction and quality assurance, under the supervision of senior team members
  • Maintaining indicator frameworks, source inventories and data gap registers, and preparing tables, charts and data summaries for reports and other deliverables
  • Supporting data analysis and the drafting of sections of reports on a range of EU policy topics
  • Contributing to internal knowledge sharing on data management and the responsible use of AI tools in policy research

Key qualifications for the position:

  • Master's degree or higher in economics, statistics, data science, computer science, or a social science discipline with a strong quantitative component
  • At least 1 year of relevant professional experience, including internships or research assistant positions
  • Strong data management skills, including cleaning, merging, reshaping and documenting datasets
  • Working knowledge of relational databases and SQL (for example SQLite or PostgreSQL) an advantage
  • Proficiency in Python or R for data processing and analysis; familiarity with APIs, version control (Git) and reproducible workflows
  • A high level of comfort using generative AI tools in professional work, including structured prompting and verifying AI outputs; experience building AI-assisted or automated workflows is strongly desirable
  • A sincere interest in EU public policy and willingness to work across different policy areas as necessary
  • Previous experience working with Eurostat datasets or other EU statistical sources is an advantage
  • Well-organised, precise and able to document work clearly so that others can use and build on it
  • An independent, self-starter personality
  • Excellent written and spoken English; knowledge of other EU languages is desirable

What we offer

  • A very informal, supportive and collaborative working environment
  • A minimum of hierarchy and internal bureaucracy
  • A strong dedication to public policy
  • Highly professional and a strong commitment to quality in what we do
  • The opportunity to shape a new role and develop data and AI practices within a policy consultancy
  • A dynamic multi-cultural atmosphere with some 25 nationalities
  • Regular company events (e.g. barbecues, training lunches, weekly yoga classes)
  • Biennial company weekend retreats
  • An organisation that values environmental protection and puts this into practice, holding the 3-star Ecodynamic Organisation Label from Brussels Environment


Milieu would like the successful candidate to start as soon as possible. The deadline for applications is 4 October 2026

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Milieu Consulting is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Please ensure you have read our Privacy and Cookie Policy before submitting your application https://www.milieu.be/company-overview/privacy-policy/

Data and Policy Trainee

Apply for this job
Job description

Data and Policy Trainee

Personal information
Professional data
Add
Details